Is San Francisco a heavily crime-ridden city? (Oakland: living, assessment)

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

I think people are lying when they say SF is all gentrified and white/yuppified. There's obviously a lot of f´ed up **** occurring in SF.

The city being heavily dependent on tourism industry I am sure that is the impression the city PR folks like to give out. They want everyone to believe in the city is a giant Disneyland. But the reality is very different.

If you look at SF Chronicle website this news is barely visible. A lot of the colorful headlines have to do with tabloid news, useless news, entertainment news and some city issues. And someone getting tied and executed in home robbery barely makes the news! As I said before, people here are seriously delusional about the crime situation. I guess they have lived in their crime infested neighborhoods and dumpy apartments for so long that they lost touch of what regular, middle-class neighborhood in America looks like.

BTW, one of the 6 murder victims was a guy eating at a fast-food place who got hit in the head by a homeless guy and later died. The homeless guy had been repeatedly arrested for unprovoked violent attacks on innocent victims but was not sent to prison. So that's SF for you!

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

It makes no sense to me...everyone on this forum suggests that there is no affordable housing and every neighborhood is yuppified, but then where do all of these criminals live? Surely they don't take the BART over to SF from Richmond/Oakland and hang out there all day long? Kinda makes no sense.

Very few people who live in SF are from SF. People who are from SF realized long back the the city is inhabitable and left for nicer places in surrounding parts of the bay area.

People who move here are typically young, move for a job (aka the yuppies) and for a short time enjoy the the so-called 'high life' the city offers. But sooner or later they also realize how dysfunctional the city is and how it is not worth the high living cost and they move to other parts of the bay. You know a tourist trap is fun only for tourists, not residents! Everyone at my work place has done the same.

And of course there is a large population who own or rent dumps and simply cannot afford to move.

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

I recently moved to San Francisco from Dallas, TX. I visited SF many times before moving here and loved the city as a tourist and now I am trying to like it just as much as a resident! That said, it seems SF has many negative issues that tourists don't see; first and foremost being crime. Even though statistically speaking Dallas has more crime than SF, in reality this seems untrue. I think crime is heavily under-reported in SF. Here is a list of major crimes in last one week:

1. One pizzeria worked stabbed to death without any provocation.
2. Another stabbing death at a liquor store in the same area within days
3. Woman stabbed in Muni light rail by some crazy for no reason
4. Someone shot trying to protect his car from break-in ..

and the list goes on and on...I haven't been to a single city in US where random street violence is so common!

The city seems to have a terrible crime problem everywhere and just feels unsafe. There streets in large parts of the city are ruled by crazy homeless people or scary thugs. Except few lively tourist spots the city is completely dead at night. Its pretty unbelievable that a major US city sleeps so early! Nobody walks here at night, the shops and restaurants close early...I guess all of this is probably due to fear of crime.

But I guess the most surprising part is how many people in the city believe that they actually live in a safe place! There is a bizzare collective denial about the crime and anything negative about the city is simply referred to as an acceptable part of urban life. It does not appear the politicians here care about this at all. The police for the most part seems only interested in giving traffic and parking citations to the working citizens. It is amazing how ineffective the policing is because laws are brazenly (like publicly smoking pot) broken right in front of the police.

Does anybody else feel the same way about SF or am I over-reacting as a newcomer? I feel like I have to watch my back all the time and not walk at night anywhere in the city. I am not complaining about moving here...I love the bay area and what it has to offer.

Just sharing my thoughts and see anybody else felt the same way?

In Dallas they would have been shootings

[destroycreate]

But are criminals living throughout SF city? How do criminals (typically low socioeconomic background, no job, etc.) afford to pay rent anywhere within SF city limits? If SF requires that people have so much money, surely the vast majority would be more wealthy, law abiding people?

[sav858]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

But are criminals living throughout SF city? How do criminals (typically low socioeconomic background, no job, etc.) afford to pay rent anywhere within SF city limits? If SF requires that people have so much money, surely the vast majority would be more wealthy, law abiding people?

You do realize that no big city is uniformly this or that right? Every big city has poor, bad neighborhoods, including SF. SRO's in the Tenderloin, Housing projects, Hunters Point, Bayview, etc.. Not all of SF is yuppie and gentrified. SF is really not that complicated or unique of a city to understand.

[mike0421]

Here is a web application to view the crime occurrences over the past 30 days in San Francisco, and the ability to compare to other cities:

CrimeMapping.com - National Map

[WesternGulf]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

If you look at SF Chronicle website this news is barely visible.

EXACTLY! SFGate does not consistenly mention homicides that happen in the city but they are quick to jump the bridge on headlining what is going on in Oakland and showcase one story for days at a time. Not to say we should not be transparent on what is going on in our communities but SF Chronicle clearly has an agenda.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by WesternGulf

EXACTLY! SFGate does not consistenly mention homicides that happen in the city but they are quick to jump the bridge on headlining what is going on in Oakland and showcase one story for days at a time. Not to say we should not be transparent on what is going on in our communities but SF Chronicle clearly has an agenda.

I've noticed this too, it's pretty messed up imo and doesn't help the Chron's credibility.

[JamesLaster]

[url=http://stanfordwakes.spaces.live.com/blog/]Stanford Campus Atrocity and Miscarriage of Justice's http://stanfordwakes.spaces.live.com/blog/[/url]


[url=http://stanfordwakes.spaces.live.com/blog/]Stanford Campus Atrocity and Miscarriage of Justice's [/url]

[andyadhi01]

Updates:

Slaying victim identified as Sunset homeowner